Aligning of the Stars
by catholicorprotestant
Summary: JJ wants to stand out among the other figure skaters in the world. He wants a signature style he's known for. But "JJ Style" is always shut down. JJ's parents can't stand to see his spirit break. They take matters into their own hands. One Shot. (Inspired by episode 12. This will be referenced in Beauty. Grace.)


**_Okay so after episode 12, I really felt a NEED to write this. I'm going to refer back to this in Beauty. Grace. So yeah. I hope you guys enjoy this! Let me know what you think!_**

* * *

JJ hummed to himself while he warmed up on the ice. He couldn't believe he was in Detroit. He'd never left Canada before. Everything here was so new, yet familiar. It'd been four months of perfecting fundamentals and today Coach Celestino promised they'd start working on their programs. He'd been planning this for months. He hadn't been able to stop talking about it with his parents. He was going to create his own style, something to be known for. Not every skater stood out, but the ones that did made it their own and he intended to do that, just like his parents had. They promised him he could do it. Three coaches later, here he was finally going to debut in the junior division. He couldn't wait. Everything in his being seemed to be vibrating.

His heart leapt when he saw the coaches enter. He wanted to be the first one to talk to them. None of the others seemed nearly as excited as he was. In fact Leo and Yuuri had said they were going to just let Celestino put together an amazing program for them. After all, he was their coach, and they weren't all that experience. That seemed so boring, so bland. Didn't they want to stand out? Be known and looked up to?

"Hi!" He beamed as he came to a stop in front of them. "I wanted to talk to you about the program! I've been thinking about it a lot and˗" He was cut off.

"Celestino and I already have the programs prepared. We've spent a lot of time on them, so don't worry."

"But I want to tell you my plan!" He huffed.

"You have never competed before, JJ." Celestino crossed his arms.

"The JJ style I want is˗" He continued.

"No. Do you not trust that we would give you the best program for your ability?"

"But Coach, I˗"

"First of all, say, 'Yes.'" Celestino scolded.

"But I worked so hard!"

He could feel the hurt and anger rising. He was so tired of being told what to do and being made to feel like he was stupid. He knew what he wanted. Both of his parents had stood out. He knew they didn't get to be three time Olympic champions by playing it safe. He didn't want to either. He could be just like them, better even. That's all he'd ever wanted. That was his dream. He could make them proud. One day, he was going to stand in their place with a gold and look out to see their smiling faces.

But nobody would coach him. Too stubborn. Disrespectful. The list went on. If only they'd listen. Just once…

"JJ!"

He turned to see his parents walking toward them, their faces stern and set. His stomach dropped. They were mad. He could tell. They'd moved their whole life for him to have another chance at a coach. His stomach twisted. Were they going to lose out on money from coaching fees again? Maybe he'd just listen to Celestino. For them.

"Alain, Nathalie!" Celestino smirked. "You sure do have a stubborn kid. Talk some sense into him?"

"You're fired." Alain glared.

"What?" Celestino blinked. A smile spread over his face. "Why? Because I know more than a thirteen year old child?" He let out a laugh. "You two spoil him. He'll never get a decent coach if he doesn't learn to listen."

"Papa? Maman?" If he lost another coach, what was he going to do? He couldn't follow in their footsteps if nobody would coach him. "Je suis désolé…" He hung his head.

"No, JJ." Alain crossed his arms and looked at Celestino. "Celestino, our son is creative. He's got an artistic mind. Nathalie and I are both tired of it being snubbed repeatedly. We've decided to coach him ourselves. Thank you. JJ, come on. We're leaving."

"…Really?" He felt as though his eyes were about to fall out of his skull.

"You think figure skating and ice dancing are the same?" Celestino let out a laugh.

"No, but they're similar enough." Nathalie retorted, taking JJ by the arm. "Come on, JJ, we're going back to Montreal."

* * *

Nothing felt quite the same. The house was still the house JJ had grown up in. The furniture was still in the same cozy, blocked arrangement for family time. The photographs on the wall were still where they'd left them. But everything seemed different. The air was different. His parents were different ever since they'd left Detroit. He didn't want them to be different. JJ just wanted his mother and father to not be angry with him. They were so serious. It felt almost as though he was walking on egg shells. What if he made things worse? He always did, didn't he?

He hugged his knees to his chest, closing his eyes, begging for the tears not to fall. He'd messed up again. They had to pretend they were going to be able to do it so Celestino wouldn't laugh at them anymore. There's no way they would do it, or else why would they have found four different coaches in two years? If he could just learn to let go of what he wanted just a little bit, things would work out. He could still see the way Leo, Yuuri, and Phichit had looked at him as his parents pulled him out of the rink. God, why did he have to argue with the coaches?

He felt the bed sink next to him. He hadn't even heard the door. "JJ?" He glanced up to see his mother sitting next to him, a steaming cup of hot chocolate in her hand. He took it eagerly. The warm, silky chocolate slid down his throat washing away just a small bit of the worry from his heart.

"JJ, we need to talk to you," His father sat on the other side of him.

"I'm so sorry I argued with them!" JJ apologized for the millionth time.

"It's okay, JJ. Really." His mother wrapped an arm around him, pulling him into a hug. She planted a kiss on his temple.

"We were serious when we said we'd coach you," Alain said, messing his hair. "We need to talk to you about that though."

"O-okay," JJ breathed.

"Your mother and I have been talking about this a lot. We've decided for this to work, we need to set some guidelines. When we're at practice, we're your coaches. We will be hard on you. We will push you. Because we believe in you, JJ. A coach's job is to make you better. You're very talented and you want to do it. You may hate us during practice sometimes." Alain frowned.

"I could never…" JJ shook his head.

"At home and everywhere else, we're your parents. We don't talk about your career in any way but supportive. There is no critique. We leave what happened in practice behind when we leave, okay?" Alain's eyebrows knitted.

"Okay," JJ nodded, taking another sip of the hot chocolate.

"We love you so much, JJ," Nathalie smiled. "You're going to do great things. You're such a special boy."

"What do you say?" Alain squeezed JJ to him. "Can you only hate us in practice?"

"I could never hate either of you," JJ laughed hugging them both. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Suddenly his dreams were more real than he'd ever imagined.

* * *

 ** _Thank you for reading! What did you think?_**


End file.
